For the manner in which men live is so different from the way in which they ought to live, that he who leaves the common course for that which he ought to follow will find that it leads him to ruin rather than safety.-Machiavelli

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Saturday, December 10, 2011

Some new planes...

I recently purchased two raw plane casting kits from St. James Bay Tool Co. One is a miter plane, and the other is a Norris no.51. Both are in bronze, with the miter plane having a steel sole. As I start to work on them, I'll likely start a separate page for each to update progress. There is a lot of machine work to do, and will likely take me some time.

I considered getting them with raw O-1 irons, but according to Bob at St. James, he is only selling finished irons now. That's probably a plus. Though I am capable of doing the treatment on the irons myself, sometimes it's best to leave it to the pro. All the parts are there, except for the adjuster for the smoother, which I elected not to order right away. I have a lot of work to do before I need it. I'll get more into the individual details once I get going.
I do need to say that Bob was a great pleasure to talk with, very informative and very helpful. I wouldn't hesitate to do business with him again.
Not much else than that for now. I have a great toolmaking journey to embark on, and I know it will be both fun and challenging. In the end, I'll have a pair of planes that I could not afford otherwise.

2 comments:

Hi, Mark. People must avoid you due to blog name. I thought you were a monk .... Ummmm, ya. Anyway

I have really been looking at St. James Bay plane kits for a few months and just stumbled over your site. Which miter kit (state of completion) did you get? And, did you ever finish it? Or, any of the others? Thanks.

Bruce- Both of the kits I got were raw castings. When it comes to projects my head is always in the clouds, and I tend to wander. Believe it or not, neither of them are completed yet. The miter plane is functional, just not finished. The motorcycle side of my life is pretty much over with until next year, I'm not sure if I'll be able to ride for a while due to injuries. That time will be spent catching up on all of my woodwork/tooling projects.

About the Monastery...

The ill guided adventures of a burned out hooligan as he builds weird choppers and bakes delicious desserts. Along the way, he meets a stunning cast of characters and has adventures in motorcycles, cooking, and machine tools. Will he find salvation? Will he find the question to the ultimate answer? Who knows, but stay tuned...someone might get drunk and spill the beans.